Good Neighbors

I have wanted to write a note to everyone. We have been doing fine. As you all may know our small town of Hugo was hit by a tornado Memorial Day weekend. Quickly followed by a severe hail storm. One child was killed, his sister is still in critical care. About 50 homes were destroyed, many more had damage. Many of the other homes were damaged by the hail, including ours.

Every year about this time our little town celebrates Good Neighbor Days. I will agree that this year it is especially appropriate. The purpose is for our community to come together and honor our citizens, people we call “good neighbors”. Time to visit with your neighbors and realize how important a caring community is. Last Saturday there was an organized clean up day – volunteers came from all over. By midweek before that Saturday, City Hall had to turn volunteers away. From what I know they could only accommodate 1000 volunteers. In today’s paper, in little print below a clean up picture, they explained City Hall turned away over 4000 additional volunteers. It is wonderful to know human goodness is still there and alive! The volunteers that came almost had to tell homeowners to stop thanking them so they could get on with their work. But when you live in a little town that has a big heart…thankfulness runs deep.

Throughout the days since the tornado all sorts of stories have been printed. Around town I see insurance tents set up to help with damage claims, car rentals. We have been visited by numerous contractors to get started on repairs to our house. People donating almost anything to those who lost their homes, free daycare, meals, places to stay…. At Aidan’s school there are 2 kids – one in second grade and another in third grade who lost their homes. They are classroom buddies to his kindergarten class. Tomorrow they will have a ‘shower’ for the two kids. Teachers asked if families could bring in clothing, toys, etc for these two kids.

I agree with our paper – the amazing stories from after the storm just can’t be recorded. But looking through the pictures, reading the letters of thanks from so many individuals, the accounts of people setting up food stands to help feed people immediately after the storm, the man who woke up the next morning and saw over 20 people in his yard cleaning up downed trees - it just is truly amazing.

So that is what I wanted to share – what our little town is like – fours street lights and all!

We are celebrating Aidan’s 6 birthday early – kicking off the day at the Good Neighbor’s Day parade as usual! Friday night there will be city fireworks and over the weekend we will be sure to visit the small fair grounds in back of City Hall. But above all, we will be thankful for good neighbors.